O'Neal Battles Leukemia

Ryan O’Neal, 60, a leading man in the ’60s and ’70s, has chronic myelogenous leukemia, his agent Dede Binder announced on Wednesday. The disease, which ironically sounds similar to the one suffered by Ali McGraw’s character in 1970’s “Love Story” (for which O’Neal received an Oscar nomination as her grieving husband), causes bone marrow to produce too many white blood cells. “It is treatable,” said Binder, adding that O’Neal’s condition is not life threatening, “and he is doing very well.” Binder also said that O’Neal, a Los Angeles resident, was diagnosed only recently. She did not specify what type of treatment he is receiving. From the ’80s until 1997, O’Neal was involved with actress Farrah Fawcett. Although they never married, they had a son, Redmond, who is now a teenager.